


Birdwatching

by nascence



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 10:39:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1776118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nascence/pseuds/nascence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam Wilson can talk to birds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birdwatching

**Author's Note:**

> After I learned that Falcon in the comics can telepathically talk to birds, I had to write something.

He’s grounded for weeks after Riley dies. Intellectually, he knows that he can’t be in the field right now - maybe not ever again, because the wounds are too deep, the dreams too vivid, the memories too easy to call back up without even trying. He’s not even sure if he wants to be. But it still feels like he’s lost a part of himself - even bigger than the part that’s affected by Riley’s death. He never felt as right in his entire life as when he was up in the sky, doing what felt like second nature from the moment he first put on his wings. Losing that is a whole, separate tragedy, and he’d almost feel guilty if he didn’t know with rock-solid certainty that Riley would understand.

It’s hard to find a reason to stay, without any of that - so he doesn’t even argue when they ship him back home. It doesn’t seem to matter. Nothing does.

The VA hooks him up with a therapist - Dr. Taggert, who wants to talk about his dreams, among other things.

The ones where he watches Riley fall out of the sky for the hundredth time, or watches him die in countless other scenarios, are the hardest to talk about. But they aren’t the only ones.

“I was flying,” he says, “But not like I did over there —“ he’s not allowed to tell her the exact details. She knows it was important to him, but she thinks he was a regular pilot. “I was a bird, a pigeon or something - just doing normal pigeon things. That happens sometimes, I’ll just have dreams that I’m a bird. Sometimes I’m not even flying - just perched in a tree or on a wire or something.”

“And you’ve been having them since it happened?” She doesn’t refer to it by name. 

Sam thinks for a minute. “No,” he says. “They were happening before. Just rarer. Now, it seems like every time I’m not having a nightmare, that’s the dream I’m having.”

Dr. Taggert suggests it’s probably connected to his love of flying. It seems obvious, but it doesn’t feel right to Sam. Not when he walks through the park and it’s like he can feel every single feathered creature’s movements and — he knows how it sounds — but it’s like he can see what they’re seeing too.

He catches a glimpse of himself from above as a hawk flies over the trees. 

That’s when he realizes this isn’t anywhere near as simple as dreams.

It’s weird for Sam to consider that he might have superpowers. It’s not exactly something you see every day. And moreover, it doesn’t make sense, because if he does have superpowers, then where did they come from? Don’t mutants’ powers usually show up when they’re teenagers? 

So he doesn’t mention it to anyone. He’s okay with that. There are some things you don’t advertise, that it’s okay to keep hidden, and the fact that you think you might be able to hear the thoughts of birds is definitely one of them.

What he does do is figure out what he’s capable of. Sitting in his backyard or in the park, trying to hone in on a specific bird’s thoughts. Even trying to convince individual ducks in a pond to come over and eat out of his hand. To his never ending shock, that actually works. After a little experimentation he finds he can’t force them to do something or go against their natural instincts or anything, but he can get their attention. He can talk to them, inasmuch as telepathy counts as talking. It’s the happiest he’s been in a long time.

Dr. Taggert agrees that his “birdwatching” seems to be helping him, but Sam wants to do more. He’s been home for a long time, and while he’s never going to be the same person he was before Riley died, he’s finally reached a place where he knows what he wants. So he starts helping out with the VA, and eventually winds up running a group for veterans with PTSD. It feels good - helping out people who need something that he has to give. He’s happy with it, and what’s more he thinks that Riley would be proud.


End file.
